Friday, April 15, 2011

ASME CALLS FOR RELEASE OF DETAINED JOURNALISTS

Four Reporters and Photographers Missing in Libya

At its annual
board meeting in Washington this week, the American Society of Magazine
Editors (ASME) called for the release of four journalists who were
detained in eastern Libya last week while covering the conflict there.

Clare Morgana Gillis, an American reporter working for The Atlantic and USA Today; James Wright Foley, an American reporter working for GlobalPost;
Manu Brabo, a Spanish photographer working for the European Press Photo
Agency; and Anton Lazarus Hammerl, a South African photojournalist,
were all believed to have been seized by Libyan forces last Tuesday,
April 5. Though all four journalists were initially reported to have
been seized by pro-Gaddafi forces northeast of Brega, subsequent reports
have not been able confirm that Hammerl was with the other three; all
four remain missing.

Various press reports have suggested that
the journalists are in the custody of the Libyan government, but at this
point no representative from the U.S government or any humanitarian
group has been allowed in to see the journalists and confirm the
detainees’ safety and well-being. The Atlantic, USA Today and GlobalPost
are working with the U.S. State Department and with the government of
Turkey (which serves as the “protecting power” for the U.S. government
in the absence of an American diplomatic mission there), as well as with
Human Rights Watch and other humanitarian groups, to gather information
about the status of the detained journalists and to hasten their
release.

ASME, along with the journalism organizations these
detainees work for, are concerned about the safety of Gillis, Foley,
Brabo and Hammerl. We appeal to authorities in Libya to free them as
soon as possible.